NARUTO: THE OFFICIAL FANBOOK
June 28th 2011 01:26
“My name is Naruto Uzumaki…and I’m gonna beat every one of you! Believe it!”
Naruto Uzumaki to the rest of the participants in the Chunin Exam
Story & Art by: Masashi Kishimoto
Translation: Andrew Cunningham (Translation by Design)
Cover design: Sean Lee
Touch up art & Manga lettering: Sabrina Heep
Cost: AU$19.95/US$14.99
As a Naruto fan this particular work was something that I knew I was going to have to purchase at some stage, and finally I managed to get around to it. It was one part fandom and one part sheer curiosity as I was genuinely interested as to what kind of material would go into a fanbook based on a major manga series. Apparently the fan in fanbook is just there for show, some of the material within the pages of this work is actually devoted to artwork from fans, pictures of fans cosplaying and other similar items. But it isn’t all just fun and games and fan devotion, there are other things connected to the Narutoverse such as character backgrounds etc that give the reader an insight into the background and action of the series.
Broken into seven sections, with inserts of fan based and related material every so often, the work gives the reader an insight into the background of the world of Naruto, the Hidden Leaf village, Leaf ninja as well as the obligatory Q&A session with the series creator and finally a look at where it all started, the initial Naruto story that got the ball rolling. Now just like the manga itself the format of the fanbook is Japanese style, you read it in reverse from the way you would normally read an English language novel, comic etc. The rationale behind this format is no doubt due to the fact that its simpler for the English language publishers to stick to the original format when translating and adapting, means that the publisher can focus more on the content rather than having to worry about consistency in the images and effects.
What hasn’t changed is the large mischievous streak that Naruto has and his desire to play pranks on those unfortunate enough to gain his ire. Combined with a growing sense of isolation amongst his home village he is slowly on the verge of becoming like his father who was a terror of a nine tailed fox, an individual who with a flick of one of his tails could level mountains and raise tsunami. The chieftain is worried that Naruto is going to end up like his father, a fierce monster that the chieftain fought with his eight friends back in the day. In order to hopefully prevent this from happening he sends Naruto out on a mission to find and befriend a human and bring him back to the village.
It’s an interesting tail…bad pun intended…which for my opinion worked well, although there were a few inconsistencies here and there. But by and by the one shot was an entertaining read, oh and another similar feature between it and the series is Ichiraku ramen and Naruto’s love for ramen both feature in the series and in this one shot. Although it isn’t all just the one shot story, the fanbook contains various other elements that would capture the attention of any Naruto fan, diehard or otherwise. At the front of the book is a colour insert that folds out revealing on one side a picture of what Kishimoto sensei no doubt intended his three protagonists to look like and on the opposite side; a picture map of the Hidden Leaf village.
From this we then are given a brief guide into the world in which Naruto lives and operates; the countries that make up the world and the structure of the various different hidden villages to be found in each country, as well as a look at those who lead these hidden villages, the kage or shadows. Not all villages are lead by a kage, only the five strongest are ruled by such an individual and the lands in which these villages are located are often known as the Five Great Shinobi Countries. Naruto and his comrades are from the Hidden Leaf village situated in the Land of Fire, and from the run down on the various countries the focus moves to the village itself, its people and various major personalities.
Once you get past this background info the focus moves onto profiles and run downs of the missions preformed by Naruto and his friends in Team 7, the ninja cell to which our mischievous protagonist has been assigned by his teachers. And as I mentioned earlier every now and then the info is broken up by a page or two of various fan related material, either artwork or pictures of people engaged in cosplay. Let’s not also forget the humour, there are quite a few little nuggets of mirth and jollity to be found in the pages of this fanbook so in my humble opinion if you’re a Naruto fan its well worthy handing over the spenduli for this work. It gets four out five shuriken in my opinion…
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